New Libyan law bans ex-Gadhafi officials from government

By Jomana Karadsheh, CNN

Updated 0902 GMT (1702 HKT) May 6, 2013

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Photos:Photos: Gadhafi through the years

Gadhafi through the years – Moammar Gadhafi, left, arrives for an Arab Summit Conference in Rabat, Morocco, with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser in December 1969, months after taking control of Libya in a bloodless coup.

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Photos:Photos: Gadhafi through the years

Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi rides a horse through Tripoli in November 1975.

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Photos:Photos: Gadhafi through the years

Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi reviews troops on an official visit to Senegal in December 1985.

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Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi speaks to reporters at a meeting of the High Command of the Revolutionary Forces of the Arab Nation in February 1986 in Tripoli.

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Gadhafi through the years – Nelson Mandela, then president of the South African National Congress, greets Gadhafi in Tripoli in May 1990.

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Photos:Photos: Gadhafi through the years

Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi salutes during a 1999 military parade celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution in Tripoli.

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Gadhafi through the years – At a 2007 meeting in Paris, Gadhafi is seen surrounded by his female bodyguards.

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Gadhafi through the years – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Gadhafi sign an agreement between Russia and Libya on April 17, 2008, in Tripoli.

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Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi attends a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in Rome during a G-8 summit in 2009.

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Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi exits a plane in Tripoli with family members and bodyguards after traveling to the United States and Venezuela in 2009.

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Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi arrives in Italy for talks with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in August 2010.

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Gadhafi through the years – Gadhafi smiles and raises his arms as he enters the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli on March 8, 2011. A few months later, on October 20, Gadhafi will die of a gunshot wound to the head in his hometown of Sirte, Libya.

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Story highlights

Former Gadhafi officials are now banned from official posts in Libya

Armed protesters had pressed lawmakers to pass the law for months

Head of parliament, prime minister may be affected by the law

Law is "guilt by association" and unfair, Human Rights Watch says

Lawmakers in Libya passed a law on Sunday banning senior Gadhafi government officials from holding official posts.

The move comes after a week of rising tensions in the Libyan capital of Tripoli as heavily armed protesters surrounded the Foreign and Justice ministries demanding that the legislature pass the law.

The political isolation law could exclude current senior officials such as the head of the General National Congress Mohamed al-Magariaf, who served as ambassador to India in the 1970s before he joined the exiled opposition to the Gadhafi government. The General National Congress is Libya's parliament.

It remains unclear if Prime Minister Ali Zaidan, who was a diplomat in India around the same time, would be affected by the ban.

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The law, which would be implemented by a committee that would decide whether officials fall under the exclusion criteria, goes into effect in 30 days.

But the law has already come under fire by international watchdog groups.

"(The law) violates human rights and Libya's provisional constitution because it allows for guilt by association rather than provable misdeeds. The provisions and procedures for exclusion are overly broad and vague. The desire to ban corrupt and abusive officials is understandable, but this law is deeply flawed," said Hanan Salah, Human Rights Watch's Libya researcher.

Soon after the law was passed, Libyans broke into cheers as hundreds congregated outside the GNC, celebrating what many described as a victory. Celebratory gunfire rang across many areas of Tripoli as people drove around the city honking their horns and chanting in celebration.

Outside the Justice Ministry, armed protesters played music and danced as they prepared to sacrifice a camel, a Libyan tradition.

In March armed protesters surrounded the GNC for several hours in an attempt to force lawmakers to pass the law. They later opened fire on the car of Magariaf, who escaped unharmed.

There were concerns on Sunday of a repeat of these events if lawmakers had not come to an agreement.

The siege of government ministries seems to have ended with the passing of the law, but many Libyans are concerned about the implications of the vote.

"The events of last week have set a number of precedents -- the precedent that using arms to force the government to adopt a law or policy; the precedent of establishing non-equality of citizenship before the law, in effect creating classes of Libyans; and the principle that in the New Libya, people can and will be judged on the bases of general classification, not individual responsibility," said Hafed al-Ghwell, a former Gadhafi opposition figure and a Libya analyst.